14 August 2019 - Daily Current Affairs

14 August 2019 - Daily Current Affairs

1. Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman to be honoured with Vir Chakra

• Indian Air Force's (IAF) Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman (36-years) to be conferred with Vir Chakra on Independence Day.
• The Vir Chakra is the third highest wartime gallantry award after the Param Vir Chakra and Maha Vir Chakra. 
• Wg Cdr Abhinandan had sustained injuries while ejecting from his MiG-21 Bison during the aerial combat between Indian and Pakistani air forces on February 27.
• IAF Squadron Leader Minty Agarwal will also be honoured with Yudh Seva Medal for her role as a fighter controller during the 27th February aerial conflict between India and Pakistan.
• Indian Army’s Sapper Prakash Jadhav of 1 Rashtriya Rifles (Mahar) will also be conferred Kirti Chakra (posthumously), for the role he played in an operation in Jammu and Kashmir.
• Besides, eight Army personnel will also be conferred Shaurya Chakra, five of them posthumously.

2. Priyam Chatterjee becomes first Indian chef to receive French honour

• Priyam Chatterjee has become the first Indian chef to be awarded the ‘Chevalier de l’Ordre du Mrite Agricoleto’ by the French Government.
• The Order of Agricultural Merit is an order of merit bestowed by the French Republic for outstanding contributions to agriculture.
• He has been awarded for his contribution towards reinventing the gastronomic scene in India.
• Priyam is known for revisiting the traditional dishes from his native state of West Bengal and giving it a French twist.

Science & Defence

3. India's second moon mission Chandrayaan-2 leaves earth's orbit

• India's second moon mission Chandrayaan-2 left the earth's orbit early this morning (at 2:21 AM) and is moving towards the moon following the successful completion of a crucial manoeuvre by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
• It has carried out the manoeuvre called 'Trans Lunar Insertion', following which the spacecraft successfully entered the Lunar Transfer Trajectory.
• After 13 days of Moon-bound orbit phase, the lander 'Vikram' carrying rover 'Pragyan' will separate and after another few days of orbiting will soft-land on September 7 in the South Pole region of the Moon, where no country has gone so far.
• If successful, the mission will make India the fourth country after Russia, the US and China to pull off a soft landing on the Moon.
• The objective of the mission Chandrayaan-2 is to develop and demonstrate the key technologies for end-to-end lunar mission capability, including soft-landing and roving on the lunar surface.
• Chandrayaan-2 is expected to reach the moon's orbit on 20^th August and land on the lunar surface on 7th September.

Source: AIR News

Banking & Finance

4. AePS crosses 20 crore transactions in July: NPCI

• According to National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), Aadhaar enabled Payment System (AePS) has crossed the milestone of over 220 million (22 crores) transactions during July 2019. (transaction value Rs 9,685 crore).
• Top five services provided by AePS model are cash withdrawal, cash deposit, Aadhaar to Aadhaar funds transfer, balance enquiry, gateway authentication service.
• AePS is a bank-led model which allows basic banking transactions at point of sale.
• AePS empowers a bank customer to use Aadhaar as identity to access respective Aadhaar enabled bank account and perform basic banking transactions like cash withdrawal, intrabank or interbank fund transfer and balance enquiry.

Note:

• AADHAAR Enabled Payment System (AEPS) allows online interoperable financial inclusion transaction at PoS (MicroATM) through the Business correspondent of any bank using the AADHAAR authentication.fairs

National Affairs

5. PM Modi inaugurates new lighting system in Parliament House

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi has inaugurated the Dynamic Facade Lighting of the Parliament House Estate.
• As many as 875 energy-efficient LED lights have been installed in the Parliament Complex.
• These are power efficient and uses only one-fifth of the electricity compared to other types of lights.
• These excellent intensities LED bulbs are capable of creating 16 million colour combinations and the LED lighting is programmable and electronically controlled through computers.
• The dynamic lighting system through intermittent multi-colour lights creates an aura and enhances the grandeur of Parliament House.
• These beautiful lights will illuminate the beautiful Parliament building all-round the year.

 Source: DD News

 6. Indian Army launches ‘Mission Reach Out’ in Jammu

• The Indian Army has launched ‘Mission Reach Out’ in Jammu to ensure necessities and essential services are available in the region.
• A high-level Mission Reach Out conference to review the prevalent situation in the region was held in the Nagrota Military Station was chaired by White Knight Corps Commander Lt Gen Paramjit Singh.
• The Corps commander lauded the absolute synergy between the Army, civil administration and other security establishments in maintaining peace, harmony and a conducive environment.

7. Two new UTs, in J&K, will come into effect on 31^st October

• Two newly created Union Territories (Jammu &Kashmir and Ladakh) will officially come into existence on 31^st October 2019 (birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel).
• On 31^st October, the President's assent to the newly passed Jammu and Kashmir Re-organisation Act comes into effect.
• According to the new Act, UT J&K will have Assembly while Ladakh will be UT without a Legislature.
• The Ladakh UT will have three districts that are Leh, Kargil and Ladakh while the rest 12 districts will remain with J&K UT.
• Country's first Home Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was instrumental in the merger of about 565 princely states into the Union of India following Independence.
• On 6th August, the Parliament has given its nod to the J&K Re-organisation Bill turned the militancy-hit state in two separate administrative units as Union Territories.
• Each UT will be governed by a separate Lieutenant Governor.

8. J&K govt to host Global Investors Summit 2019 in Srinagar

• Jammu and Kashmir government will host a three-day Global Investors Summit 2019 in Srinagar (from 12th October 2019).
• The first-ever summit in the state will provide J&K with an opportunity to showcase its strengths, strategies and potential.
• The summit will provide an opportunity to allay fears and apprehensions in the minds of outside trade and the business community.

Source: AIR News

9. Karnataka launches “E-Step” initiative to empower student start-ups

• Karnataka Government has launched “E-Step” initiative to empower student start-ups.
• The “E-Step” initiative has been launched by The Department of IT, BT and S&T in Karnataka, through Karnataka Innovation and Technology Society (KITS).
• Under the E-step initiative boot camps, mentoring and training programmes will be organised which will cover various aspects of entrepreneurship.
• The programme is specially crafted for students/start-ups/entrepreneurs to understand the basics of entrepreneurship from experienced trainers.
• In the first phase, a day-long boot camp across New Age Incubation Networks (NAIN) will be organised at 30 colleges in the state.

Source: Hindu business line

10. Mamata Banerjee inaugurates world's 1st museum on Sri Chaitanya

• West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has inaugurated the world’s first museum on Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu at Baghbazare in Kolkata.
• The museum has been constructed by Baghbazar Gaudiya Mission.
• The Chaitanya museum has paintings on one of the aspects of Lord Krishna's life known as ‘Vrindavan Leela’.
• The museum will also showcase the lineage of six Goswamis who were great Vaishnava scholars.

Note:

• Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was the 16th-century Bengali Hindu mystic and saint and the chief proponent of the Gaudiya Vaishnavism tradition within Hinduism.

International Affairs

11. India, Russia to boost ties to achieve USD 30 billion bilateral trade by 2025

• Piyush Goyal (Commerce and Industry Minister) led a high-power delegation of Chief Ministers of Haryana, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Goa and about 140 Indian companies to Vladivostok, Russia (11-13 August 2019).
• Goyal underlined the need to diversify and deepen trade links in priority sectors, in order to meet the trade target of USD 30 billion by 2025.
• The 5th Eastern Economic Forum will be held in September in Vladivostok, Russia.

12. India contributes 1 million to UN Special Purpose Trust Fund

• India has contributed one million US Dollars to the United Nations Special Purpose Trust Fund for the Resident Coordinator System.
• According to the UN information, Special Purpose Trust Fund (SPTF) is a specific fund housed within the UN Secretariat, established to receive, consolidate, manage all contributions and financial transactions of the new Resident Coordinator system in a transparent and effective way.
• SPTF web portal, displays in real-time all commitments, contributions and expenditures recorded for the fund.

Source: AIR News

Obituaries

13. Former Additional Solicitor General Amarendra Sharan passes away

• Senior advocate and former Additional Solicitor General Amarendra Sharan (70-years) passed away after suffering a heart attack.
• Sharan was the Additional Solicitor General in the Supreme Court from 2004 to 2009.
• In 2008, Sharan won the award for “outstanding contribution for the development of scientific jurisprudence” on National Law Day.
• The senior advocate was amicus curiae in the Supreme Court in the case related to the SC/ST Act last year and another related to Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination.

Source: The Hindu

14. Former Argentina defender Brown passes away

• Argentina's 1986 World Cup-winning defender Jose Luis Brown (62-years) passed away following a long battle with Alzheimer.
• Brown made 36 appearances for his country, the most famous of which came in the 1986 World Cup final in Mexico.
• Jose Luis Brown knew by his nickname "Tata", dislocated his shoulder in the match but refused to be substituted.

Source: BBC

Sports

15. Women’s T20 cricket included in 2022 Commonwealth Game

• Women’s Twenty20 cricket, beach volleyball and Para-table tennis have been included in the 2022 Commonwealth Game (27^th July to 7^th August 2022).
• Commonwealth Game 2022 scheduled to be held in Birmingham, England.
• This time shooting and archery events will not take place in the 2022 Commonwealth Game.
• The last time cricket (50 overs) was played in 2018 Commonwealth Games held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.